* Who’s Returning to India and Why?

WSJ: “A recent front page article in the New York Times documented the migration of second generation Americans back to their ancestral countries, including India, China, Brazil and Russia.

India’s faltering growth may be disappointing, but it’s still much more rapid than the continued stagnation of the U.S. economy. In certain fields, at least there are still opportunities to be seized in India by those with a taste for adventure.

Labor economists call this kind of migration the “reverse brain drain.” Ironically, the migrants are often the kids or sometimes grandkids of the original “brain drain,” skilled workers and professionals who left India and other developing countries in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s to seek opportunities in the booming U.S. economy.

In fact, a more accurate term for the highly mobile skilled workers of today, favored by labor economists, is “brain circulation.” These people are agile and will seek out opportunities wherever they exist. So if things don’t work out in India, they might return to the U.S. or try their luck somewhere else.”